Litter levels have risen in many cities and towns after a “worrying slippage” in cleanliness.

The Irish Business Against Litter report ranked 40 locations across the country.

And findings reveal the amount of litter increased by 4% during the last 12 months.

Just over two-thirds (70%) of the urban areas assessed were found to be “clean to European norms” compared to 85% two years ago.

While once again there were no blackspots, three urban areas were labelled as being “seriously littered” – Galvone in Limerick, Farranree in Cork and Dublin’s North Inner City.

Waterford was again among the top-ranking areas, but Dublin city centre and Limerick both slipped to join Galway as “moderately littered”.

IBAL’s Conor Horgan said: “The poor showing by our cities generally goes some way to explaining the overall increase in litter levels. Last year all our major cities other than Dublin were clean – this time round the majority are littered.”

Mahon in Cork city and Tallaght in Dublin were among the places to show the most improvement in the research.

The urban areas vying for the title of Ireland’s cleanest town, which will be announced today, are Ashbourne in Co Meath, Kildare, Roscommon, Thurles in Co Tipperary and Waterford city.